Estate of Archer

Dambach & Dambach and James J. Dambach for Contestant and Appellant.

Dickinson Thatcher, in pro. per., and for Petitioners and Respondents.

OPINION

LUI, J.

Appellant Berenice Moises filed a will contest challenging the validity of an addition to a holographic codicil to the will of her uncle, Earl Archer. Archer's cousin, Donald Belcher, and Belcher's nominee to administer Archer's estate, Dickinson Thatcher (respondents), filed a general demurrer to the contest. After a hearing, the demurrer was sustained without leave to amend, the contest was dismissed, and the challenged codicil was admitted to probate. Moises appeals.

We conclude that, as a matter of law, the addition to the codicil adopts the signature of the original codicil. Therefore, the trial court properly sustained the demurrer without leave to amend as to the allegation that the additional codicil was invalid because it was unsigned.

Further, the allegation that Archer lacked testamentary intent when he wrote the addition is a conclusion which does not withstand a demurrer. However, this defect could possibly be cured by pleading the appropriate ultimate facts. Therefore, the court erred by sustaining the…